Day 229 - Cruising Across the Sea: Travelling from Europe to the British Isles

Day 229 (18 Aug 2023) - Travelling from Calais, France to Dover, England to Bristol, England

DAY 229 (18 AUG 2023) – In the morning, I left Brussels for a 3 hour (220 km) ride to Calais, France. Brussels was my last city of visit in Europe. Five days ago, I booked a one-way ticket for myself and ‘Parameswara’ on the ‘Irish Ferries’ for a price of 60 euros (RM 303).

After arriving at Calais, I got my passport stamped by both, the France and UK immigration. I then bid farewell to Europe and boarded the ferry to UK.

At the ferry terminal, I met a family from Romania also waiting to board the ferry. They kindly offered me some food and drinks since there were no food stalls at the terminal. I am very grateful to meet good people on my journey.

The ferry ride to Dover, England took 1 hour 30 minutes. It was raining when I arrived at the ferry terminal. In the UK, the distance is measured in miles (1 mile = 1.6 km), and Malaysia is 7 hours ahead of UK.

I made sure to fuel up my motorbike before continuing my journey. The price of petrol was at 1.72 euros per liter (RM 10.20 per liter) since the british pound has now gone up (1.00 euros = RM5.92)!

I then travelled 6 hours from the terminal to Mr Abhi Sugumaran’s home in Bristol. Mr Abhi is a fellow motorbike rider from Kerala. I have known him since the last one year via Facebook. He invited me to stay in his place so here I am at his beautiful home in South England, about 220 kilometres from London.

Mr Abhi is an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and Project Manager working for Airbus. He stays in Bristol with his wife, Madam Senega who is from Mumbai. I also collected a mail package of my medicines and my motorbike registration card, which my son sent to Mr Abhi’s home address.

In the evening, the couple prepared a delicious meal for dinner. There was briyani rice with many tasty dishes including chicken curry, vegetables, with yogurt and pickle – a complete Indian meal! I must say, the briyani was really tasty. We spent the evening having great conversations all the way till 10 pm.

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